My Son Has Given Me Wings

My days are pretty boring these days. This is a good thing. My doctor says that you want to be interesting at a cocktail party but boring at the hospital. So I thought I'd give you a look at what is roughly my daily schedule.

6am--The nurses come in for my first dose of Nephedipene of the day and to test my blood sugar. (This keeps me from having contractions.) In order to get this med, they take my vitals as my blood pressure has to be 90 over 60. Lots of times my pressure is too low, but I've found that laying on my back usually raises it just enough. My low blood pressure is also one of the reasons the Dr's are hesitant for me to move around a lot. The low blood pressure is a side effect of the Nephedipene. We also listen to Henry at this time. I fall back asleep after this.
7-7:30--Dr. Murray makes her rounds. (She usually arrives around 10 minutes after I fall back asleep.)
8am--Usually by the time I fall back asleep, the nurse comes back in with my Heparin shot (to prevent blood clots). I get the shot in my belly and it is a good day when Henry doesn't kick me while I get my shot. I also get my breakfast at this time and tune into the Today Show for my daily dose of Al Roker.
9:15-9:45ish--I get my blood sugar tested again an hour after I finish eating. I also usually get put on the monitor for my hour long Non-Stress Test where they check for contractions and fetal heartrate. When the sound of Henry's heart beating doesn't lull me to sleep, I press a button every time I feel him move. The nurses always comment in hoe beautiful Henry's strip is.
10-11--Live with Regis and Kelly. Finish my NST. Bathe and get dressed for the day.
12--Lunch and then an hour later, my blood sugar gets tested. I usually get online at this time or sleep.
2--Time again for my vitals and Nephedipine.
3--Guiding Light and playing on the computer.
4--Ellen.
5--Dinner and then an hour later--blood sugar tested and MASH on the Hallmark Channel.
8--Another Heparine shot in the belly and either NBC or HGTV. Play with my Webkinz online.
10--Vitals, Nephedipene, listen to Henry and pray that I only get up to pee a couple of times in the night.

Occasionally I pull out my little hand mirror and check out my ever growing belly. In the past few days, I can see that Henry has both grown and found himself an odd position. I look like I have wings underneath my ribs. Dr. Murray tells me it is his butt on my right and his feet (which she guesses must be big like his Daddy's) on my left. It is really quite one of the oddest things I've ever seen.

I'm Hungry

I think Henry is having a growth spurt, which is a double-edged sword, as we are still figuring out my diabetic diet and I spent most of yesterday hungry. The cafeteria messed up my menu, sending me regular food, so there were large portions of things on my tray that I could not eat. But I've discovered that I like sugar free Carnation Instant breakfast and that has helped (it also helps meet my chocolate needs). I've had more snacks so that has helped. It is a bit like I'm on the South Beach diet.

I still miss Sloan. A lot. Bunches and bunches.

Missing Carbs and my doctors

Yesterday's ultrasound went well. My fluids are fine; Henry is wonderful (he now weighs 2 lbs 10 oz), and my cervix is still dilated 1.5 cm. However, because both my doctors (the obstetrician and the maternal-fetal medicine specialist) are on Spring Break--the doctors covering me this week do not feel comfortable giving me any new privileges. One of the nurses said, "So, I hear they may let you up to go to the bathroom." I said, "Um, yeah, I started that rumor." So it is with great anticipation that Henry and I await the return of Drs. Murray and Troyer.

I also have been doing well with my finger pricks and blood sugar. But I desperately miss carbs, drinking the whole carton of milk, fruit, and regular Coke. I don't think I realized how sugar and carb heavy the hospital diet was until now. Basically when I have a snack I get to choose between cheese cubes and cheese cubes. But I love my cheese, so at least I'm not lactose intolerant.

Still Lovin' Bacon at 28 weeks

YEAH!!!! We have made it to our first goal of 28 weeks. My next goal is 30 weeks--March 27th.

Today has been the first day of my " Non-concentrated Sugars" diet. And they forgot my bacon again at breakfast, so I had the nurse order me some and I had it for my mid-morning snack. It has also been my first day of finger pricks to test my blood sugar and so far so good. The doctor does not believe that I'll need to take pills or shots. So this is good.

Also, my cable came back on today after lunch so I am once again able to watch Guiding Light.

I'm still waiting for Dr. Love to drop by for my weekly ultrasound. I am hoping things are either the same or better with my cervix so that they let me lay flat for a couple of hours a day. But for now I'll look forward to Bacon-wrapped scallops from Capitol Ale House. Yummy!

I love bacon

Today has been a laundry list of annoyances.

For starters, I did not sleep well because I dreamt all night about giving blood. Seriously, I was at the movies with Martin Lawrence when my church's Associate Pastor came to draw my blood. I think I dreamt this because today was also my three hour blood sugar test. This began with a 6 am blood draw, followed by chugging even more yucky orange soda. Then I tried to go back to sleep before my next blood draw, but spent most of that first hour with my head in the trashcan afraid I was going to throw up and then have to drink the Glucola again. Then I had blood draws at 8:15, 9:15, and again at 10:15. I was able to sleep between the 2nd and 3rd draws, so that was good. (Although it meant I slept through the Today show.)

Secondly, because of the blood test, I had to wait to have my breakfast until 10:30. AND THEY FORGOT MY BACON!!!! It took every ounce of courage not to cry when I lifted the lid to my breakfast and saw half of my plate empty. You have to understand--breakfast is the one meal here at the hospital that is always good because every day I get my two slices of yummy pork fat goodness. And because I ate breakfast so late, the nurse couldn't call down to the cafeteria for more bacon.

Thirdly, as if the bacon debacle wasn't enough, I find out that I do have gestational diabetes. So far they will be adjusting my diet before they do anything else. If you visit me, you could be the beneficiary of this as I'm giving away the pounds of chocolate I've accrued while being here. When the dietitian came to work out my menu with me, we actually discovered that my sugar intake probably increased since being in the hospital because most of the stuff I buy for Sloan and me is low-carb and until the hospital, I didn't have dessert with every meal.

And lastly, my cable went out around 2:3o today and remains out. I missed my Guiding Light, but hopefully it will be back on for Heroes tonight. Thank God for my laptop and Elliot Reid, my wonderful Webkinz.

Sugar Sweet

Yesterday morning I took my gestational diabetes test. For those of you that don't know, they make you chug this sticky sweet orange soda and then come back in an hour to draw blood to check your blood sugar. Unfortunately, I did not pass my first blood test so I will do another version of this with 3 hourly blood draws on Monday.

I also learned that I am not going to eat any more pineapple for the remainder of my pregnancy. I spent most of last night sick. I was very thankful that Sloan was here to help the nurses take care of me. I also think the internal noises of me getting sick scared Henry because he went crazy practicing some sort of uterine kung fu which did not help matters. But Henry and I are doing well now.